The Black Woodstock: Frankie Knuckles Tribute

Who said that a group of black people can't get along? Who created the stereotype that once we get together, there will be violence? Yesterday, June 3, 2014, Chicagoans everywhere gathered at Millennium Park to celebrate the life of the godfather of house music Frankie Knuckles. Knuckles, originally from New York, passed away March 31, 2014. The scenery of the tribute resembled 60s Woodstock but for the black community.

Of course, there were people there of various races who loved house music. I always believed that music has no color but house music resonated with the soul of blacks. House music is one genre of music that brought us blacks together. House music was very popular in the 80s when I was in high school. We "House Heads" as we're now called, tuned in every weekend to radio station WBMX to listen to the Hot Mix 5. We did our own bootlegging by getting blank cassette tapes to record the music.

House music was the highlight of every weekend. Whether we had a rough week at school or dealing with the struggles of living in impoverished neighborhoods, listening to house music gave us an outlet. House music was very therapeutic for us and as I see various video clips of those in attendance of Knuckles' tribute, it still is!

My taste in music has changed over the years but when I hear house music being played, it brings back so many great memories. From high school dances to hitting the clubs on the weekend, most of us would listen to house music before we left the house. It pumped us up and by the time we reached our destination, we were on fire!

Frankie Knuckles will definitely be missed--especially by those in his inner circle. We all were touched in different ways as his songs and music made us feel as though we were a part of his family. I guess we're in his inner circle after all.

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Meet The Blogger

Sabrina Nixon

I'm an author and playwright of urban fiction, a mom of two boys with autism, and have lupus. I lived my formative years in the Cabrini-Green Housing Projects. I have an article about my thoughts of the demise of Cabrini-Green on Page Four of the Chicago RedEye titled "Eyesore yes, but public housing was our home" (April 2010) and a lupus article titled "Butterfly is more than some ink on my leg" (May 2010).